Creating Syracuse football’s ideal schedules through 2035

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By John Cassillo@JohnCassillo Apr 2, 2020, 1:49pm EDT

Without sports going on right now, there’s conceivably a little bit less for college athletics administrators to handle on a day-to-day basis. This should free up time for numerous other things, including but not limited to future football scheduling.

Of course, this hasn’t been the case so far. Only a handful of series have been announced since quarantines got a bit more widespread. And those that were announced are largely bodybag games. But since the Syracuse Orange could use plenty of bodybag games over the next decade-plus, it makes sense that we should be active in getting opponents on the books, no?

So I took it upon myself to schedule out every Syracuse Orange non-conference schedule through 2035, just to get all the work done up front. Did we need to go out that far? Certainly not. But does it now make it even easier for SU to just copy and paste this into whatever nonsensical software they use to over-complicate this process? Also yes.

The main stipulations before we start: The aim is at least six home games per year, and wherever possible, I tried for seven. Only teams with openings in a given year could be selected and I did actively factor in opponents’ scheduling tendencies when slotting teams in. Also, I just carried over the current ACC in-conference opponent rotation — something that may or may not stay in place past 2024.

(new additions in italics)

2021

Home: Rutgers, Albany, Liberty, Boston College, Clemson, Pittsburgh, Wake Forest
Away: Ohio, Florida State, Louisville, NC State, Virginia Tech

This is locked in already, so no changes.

2022

Home: Purdue, Notre Dame, Florida State, Louisville, NC State, Virginia, Wagner
Away: UConn, Boston College, Clemson, Pittsburgh, Wake Forest

Wagner’s the only addition, and the one that takes the least amount of effort to schedule. We last faced off with the Seahawks in 2018.

2023

Home: Western Michigan, Army, Boston College, Clemson, Pittsburgh, Wake Forest, Holy Cross
Away: Purdue, Florida State, Louisville, NC State, North Carolina

Again, it’s just the FCS opponent, so we’re tossing Holy Cross in there for the first time since 2019.

2024

Home: Ohio, Florida State, Louisville, Miami (FL), NC State, Colgate, Eastern Michigan
Away: Army, Boston College, Clemson, Pittsburgh, Wake Forest

We’re just assuming Army counts as SU’s P5 here, since Washington State and BYU are the only options, and it seems unlikely SU’s going to schedule either. Colgate’s another add you can just make when necessary. This one’s a bit close to the last time we faced the Raiders (2020), but there’s at least some history to lean on here. Eastern Michigan’s an add in a state we still recruit and is decidedly not Western Michigan — a school we put on the schedule too many times in a straight-up home-and-home (and home-and-home).

2025

Home: UConn, Army, Boston College, Clemson, Pittsburgh, Wake Forest, LIU
Away: Notre Dame, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Louisville, NC State

Just one add here, and it’s another easy one in LIU. Did you know LIU is an FCS program now? Well they are. So we should probably toss them on the schedule every once in awhile.

2026

Home: New Hampshire, UConn, Duke, Florida State, Louisville, NC State
Away: Notre Dame, Army, Boston College, Clemson, Pittsburgh, Wake Forest

This season’s already locked, so no changes.

2027

Home: Boston College, Clemson, Pittsburgh, Wake Forest, Eastern Michigan, Albany, Indiana
Away: UConn, Florida State, Louisville, NC State, Virginia

More EMU, but this is the second game in a proposed 2-for-1 here. Albany’s fine to add again, and Indiana’s looking for a P5 opponent so we can make this happen. Worth inquiring about a basketball home-and-home deal as well.

2028

Home: Florida State, Louisville, NC State, Virginia Tech, Holy Cross, Georgia State, Bowling Green
Away: Boston College, Clemson, Pittsburgh, Wake Forest, Indiana

We don’t get to face Georgia Tech all that much, and the Atlanta area’s obviously talent-rich. So why not try to get Georgia State on the docket as a winnable contest? Holy Cross is tacked on again as the FCS team. We also added Bowling Green since Dino still has connections there and the Falcons aren’t in the best shape at current. The Indiana trip is the back-end to the aforementioned home-and-home.

2029

Home: Notre Dame, Boston College, Clemson, Pittsburgh, Wake Forest, Central Connecticut, FIU
Away: Florida State, Louisville, Miami (FL), NC State, Eastern Michigan

By this point, we haven’t seen CCSU in over a decade, so let’s toss them in there. FIU’s another team that gives us exposure in a hot recruiting area (South Florida), and one we actually get a lot of talent from. EMU’s on there as the third game in that aforementioned 2-for-1.

2030

Home: Florida State, Louisville, NC State, North Carolina, Stony Brook, Kent State
Away: Boston College, Clemson, Pittsburgh, Wake Forest, Northwestern, Bowling Green

We haven’t faced Stony Brook since way back in 2012, in a game that was a little too close for comfort (a 28-17 Orange win). But a lot’s changed since and they’re in-state, so let’s play them again. Kent State’s on here because Sean Lewis won’t be there by that point, but his presence could help facilitate a scheduling arrangement now, though we made this a 2-for-1. Bowling Green completes the back half of their home-and-home with us, and Northwestern’s added as a similar-ish P5 on the front end of a home-and-home with the Wildcats.

2031

Home: Boston College, Clemson, Pittsburgh, Wake Forest, Colgate, Northwestern, Charlotte
Away: Duke, Florida State, Louisville, NC State, Georgia State

Tossing Colgate in as we should do every five or six years, at least. Northwestern returns to SU for the first time since that nonsensical 2012 Wildcats win and Charlotte adds another winnable game against an opponent in a quality recruiting area on the front end of a home-and-home. Georgia State completes their home-and-home with us as we head down to Atlanta.

2032

Home: Florida State, Georgia Tech, Louisville, NC State, Rhode Island, East Carolina
Away: Boston College, Clemson, Pittsburgh, Wake Forest, Kansas, FIU

URI had not been on the non-conference schedule yet in this exercise, so we bring them aboard. ECU and Syracuse also decide to rekindle a weird series that took a 40-year hiatus by this point. Our next P5 foe is Kansas, who we face on the road first in the home-and-home (and hopefully add in a hoops game or two as well). FIU is a completion of the home-and-home from 2029.

2033

Home: Boston College, Clemson, Pittsburgh, Wake Forest, Albany, Kansas
Away: Florida State, Louisville, NC State, Virginia Tech, Kent State, East Carolina

Okay, admittedly going on the road to both Kent State AND ECU in the same season isn’t great, but considering how many times above we get seven home games, you deal with it. Kent State gets the second of three games between them and Syracuse, while ECU wraps up a home-and-home. KU gives us a return trip for the 2032 game at Lawrence, and we add Albany as the FCS squad because why not?

2034

Home: Florida, Louisville, NC State, Virginia, Holy Cross, Kent State, Army
Away: Notre Dame, Boston College, Clemson, Pittsburgh, Wake Forest

If you’re tired of Holy Cross, feel free to sub them out for another FCS. Kent State gives us the third game in that 2-for-1, and after not seeing them for almost a decade here, we toss another home-and-home with Army on the slate.

2035

Home: Boston College, Clemson, Pittsburgh, Wake Forest, LIU, Rutgers
Away: Florida State, Louisville, NC State, North Carolina, Charlotte, Army

LIU’s an FCS, and Rutgers is added for the front end of a home-and-home series. Charlotte completes a home-and-home, though I’ll admit if I did this further out, that’s a game that would get pushed since it would mean three games in North Carolina this season. Army is just the back-end of that aforementioned home-and-home.

***

Is this a perfect collection of schedules? No. But does it check a lot of boxes in terms of keeping Syracuse competitive, getting into quality recruiting areas and still meeting P5 requirements? Yeah, I’d say so.

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